I want to change the chrome side window trim and the rear "porthole" chrome on the '02 XJR to matt black. When paging through photos I noticed that some cars came with black, and some with chrome. Is that a model year variation? It would be ideal if I could remove the chrome and simply reinstall another black set, rather than prepping and painting the current chrome parts for the color change. Any info would be helpful. Thanks

 

US and Canadian-market XJR cars had the chrome (actually, it is polished stainless steel, I think), except for the last special “100” model, but in Britain and in other markets the XJR had the black trim. It is difficult to say whether prepping and painting, or removing and refitting another set would be more difficult.

 

Thanks, that's very helpful. Since the odds of finding a salvage car with black trim in North America would seem to be zero, the remove/refinish approach is realistically the only option.... I appreciate the info.

 

You might even consider a powder coat treatment.

 

I’m with Randy, I think a nice powder coated trim will work well. They have to sandblast the trim as part of the prep anyways. However, if you thought about getting the chrome trim for the bumpers done to match the door trim, that I believe has to be painted as I’m pretty sure that it’s made of plastic. I know for a fact the X300’s are metal though and they’re in a different shape. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about the X308 chrome bumper trim pieces being plastic or not. I’ve never had to remove any before.

 

Thanks all. I'm limiting the change to the proliferation of vertical chrome around the side glass. Will use powder coating as suggested.

 

It looks like that rear curved port light chrome might be glued to the body. Is that correct? If so, it presumably has to be cut out?